Traditional solutions for coupling PICs utilize GRIN lens technology, lensed fibers with v-grooves or other solutions which rely
on air gaps and more complex alignment techniques. These techniques are suitable for moderate channel densities but pose substantial
thermal expansion/excursion and related reliability challenges. An additional limitation of a conventional, lens-based coupling
technique is its inability to control channel spacing and NA independently.

Based on work developing a 60+ channel PROFA, CPI believes that there is an opportunity to introduce a closely related (N+1) x 1
combiner whose primary advantages are:

• Improved insertion loss on the signal channel: ≤ 0.3 dB

• Increased number of combined fibers:
37 in the near term (able to be increased soon thereafter)